Athletes who participate in sports played on smooth hard surfaces such as basketball, handball, squash or racquetball courts can improve their traction by periodically cleaning and slightly moistening their shoe soles. Dust and other debris normally accumulate on shoe soles during the course of play and decrease the coefficient of friction between the shoe soles and the court surface. To remove the dust and debris and to slightly moisten their shoe soles, athletes typically wipe their shoes on a damp towel between playing periods. During playing periods, when there is seldom time to exit the court and wipe one's shoes on a damp towel, athletes sometimes clean their shoe soles by spitting into their hands then wiping the soles of their shoes with their saliva-moistened hands.
The prior art discloses socks with structures on which athletes could wipe the soles of their shoes. Such structures are typically foam or fabric pads attached to the upper tube portions of the socks. Although these structures may be capable of absorbing and retaining the moisture needed for cleaning the sole of the shoe, they are adapted to absorb shock or sweat rather than to provide a damp wiping surface for court shoes. In addition, they are not designed to prevent moisture from soaking into the upper tube portion. If court athletes were to moisten these structures to create a shoe-wiping surface, the moisture would soak into their socks causing their socks to become uncomfortably damp. Moreover, moisture introduced into a sock's upper tube portion will inevitably soak into the lower portion of the sock inside the shoe creating a warm, wet, abrasive environment for the wearer's foot. This type of environment can be extremely uncomfortable and can promote foot ailments such as blistering and athlete's foot. Examples of these types of socks are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,225,354 issued to Pierce on May 8, 1917; U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,522 issued to Throneburg et al. on May 3, 1994; and British Patent Number 508,478 issued to Eyre et al.
The prior art also includes sweat-band-type garments that are worn around a wearer's lower leg or ankle to absorb excess moisture before it can soak into the athlete's sock and create a moist, warm environment inside the athlete's shoe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,915, issued to Siciliano on Jun. 30, 1987, includes a moisture-absorbing pad in the form of a moisture-absorbent outer sleeve and a moisture barrier in the form of a non-moisture-absorbent inner sleeve. The inner sleeve and outer sleeve are worn directly against the skin on the lower leg or ankle. The inner sleeve does not isolate the outer sleeve from the wearer's leg. Instead, the outer sleeve extends upward beyond the upper edge of the inner sleeve so that it may contact the wearer's skin and intercept and absorb sweat as it moves downward along the wearer's leg. The Siciliano patent also discloses the inner and outer sleeves in integral combination with a fabric sock but does not show the inner sleeve layered between the outer sleeve and the upper tube portion of the sock.